PNE/Hastings Park Renewal | Approved

[jlousa]

I usually summarize these reports for the forumers but I just haven't had the time recently. Here is the actual report going before council on Thrusday.

http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/council...ents/penv6.pdf

And here is the actual plan being considered. It's probably not ideal for any group but it's a very solid proposal that is vastly superior to the current situation and I believe it's the right plan for the city and for the region. I recommend most of you d/l it as it's huge and go over it in detail. hopefully those that feel strongly about it can go to council and speak on it. Enjoy

http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/council...6appendixA.pdf

[amor de cosmos]

the only thing that's missing is a streetcar

[wrenegade]

I skimmed through it, looks pretty neat, but jesus, $310 million dollars? Hopefully the project can be phased a bit to spread the cost (not to mention the construction schedule)? Also, the funding options information seems a little thin. Cool concept though for the park, I love the daylighted stream. 20 years from now this plus Skytrain down Hastings would be wicked awesome.

[Zassk]

Yeah, I read the plan thinking the whole time, "RAIL LINK!"

[Smooth]

Originally Posted by amor de cosmos

the only thing that's missing is a streetcar

And maybe a decent Ferris Wheel, right jlousa?

[city-dweller]

Here my thoughts by reference to the sections in the document:

3.2.2 Relocate and expand playland
-Great! Most of day is spent lining up and not actually riding.

3.2.3 Connect to Burrard Inlet
-Connecting the parks to the water = awesome

3.2.4 +3.2.5
-having better East West connection would be great. Also, "...while better defing crosswalks and gateways..." Are they going to put crossing light at all the Renfrew crossings? If they are, and they plan to put all the parking on the northe side, it will take for ever to get up Renfrew to the parking lots.

3.2.7 Build in Flexibility
-mentioned also biking during "fair mode". I can' barely walk right now. It would be amazing if we could ride.

New Hastings Community Center location will be interesting given the slope on the property there. I think its a good location. Maybe add a stop there for the SFU express bus.

For bike connections, I wasn't sure about plans for the Dundas Connector or the Long-term Overpass over McGill alignments. Any thoughts?

4.2 "New buildings within Hastings Park will be LEED Gold." Isn't it city policy anyway?

5.1 $310.4m is not that high considering the scope of the plan and what they are trying to do.

Anyway, thats going to be a great park if they do it all!

[city-dweller]

Almost forgot to post this:

Renfrew intersection is depicted in the Master Plan concept drawings as a surface lot. However, this location is also well suited by its sloping
topography to accommodate a parking structure; up to three floors of parking could be achieved below an upper floor that would be at-grade with the elevation of Renfrew Street. The option of building a parking structure at this location provides significant flexibility for the future. With increased transit, shuttle, and, possibly, ferry and train access during the Fair.

Ferry!!!

[amor de cosmos]

seabus terminal!

[Zassk]

I found the word "train" more exciting than the word "ferry" in that sentence.

[dleung]

Hopefully that's a hastings LRT, and not a westcoast express stop, rofl...

[mr.x]

I have huge doubts about these "improvements," and I absolutely abhor Cadman's views that this isn't "green" enough...making it any "greener" would ultimately be a huge barrier to the operations of the 17-day Fair and Playland just as what the "greening" from 1995 to today has done to the institution. I have doubts that this will improve the actual Fair, rather it might limit its space even more - what it can do within the park, considering any major programming might not be able to happen due to the millions of dollars spent on greening that could get damaged. It limits flexibility.

And last I heard, the City has passed the multi-million dollar annual greening maintenance bill to the PNE - meaning less money goes towards Playland and Fair programming. The economics of this also needs to be considered: is this green space going to be used???

Also, it's going to take how long to do all of this??? 20 YEARS?!!! Unbelievable. Really, a $208-million cost isn't that much with that timeline. By then, other things will start falling apart and will need replacing and there's going to be a MILLION MORE PEOPLE living in the region which would certainly warrant a MUCH BIGGER fair and MUCH BIGGER Playland (it already warrants one today!). A more decent time line would be 5-10 years...a snail pace of 20-years is just atrocious.

Ideally, Playland would not only expand north to where the horse stables and parking is today but also to what has been termed "Festival Meadow"...so Playland will reach right to the edge of pond/sanctuary. Even more ideal would be to have the whole area West of the pond/sanctuary (including Italian Gardens and the Garden's Gardens) be also part of Playland with rides (or maybe even a small zoo for a select animals, as part of the closure of the Abbottsford facility). A much larger Playland than what's already proposed would certainly be a hard sell to the local community as they're already moaning about the current 20-year plan or even how Suzanne Anton thinks it's already too big or Cadman thinking it's not green enough.....but is there not anyone in this city that doesn't have the whole smug green agenda shoved up their ass?

Really, focus on ONE use: either make it a really great park or a really great amusement park and fair (and if it's the former, relocate Playland and the Fair to an area where it can truly expand and flourish). Trying to do both in such a SMALL space will ultimately make both the park and Playland/Fair mediocre.

[SpongeG]

gawd knows without the pne how could we buy snuggies or oxyclean

what a waste of time the pne is IMO

hawkers selling TV crap, sad looking animals and overpriced rides and food

[SpikePhanta]

The only saving grace for playland is the wooden rollercoaster, which apparently is one of the best in the world.

I would hate to see it go to Surrey, hmm maybe we can put it the marine dr/way area of burnaby

[amor de cosmos]

The marathon council hearing into the proposed new Master Plan for Hastings Park, which will continue for at least another night, was sent back in time Tuesday night by the first-person testimony of Mary Kitigawa, who was interned in the Hastings Park livestock barns as a seven-year-old in the spring of 1942.

Kitigawa, her mother and four siblings were living with their father on their “immaculately clean” Saltspring Island farm when Canada began the infamous internment of Japanese Canadians in the wake of Pearl Harbour.

Her father was arrested by RCMP officers and taken away in the back of a pick-up truck “like a common criminal,” she told council, while the rest of the family, with children ranging in age from one and a half to 13 years, were taken with their mother to Hastings Park. Her mother was allowed two suitcases, each child only one.

At Hastings Park they were kept in horse stalls for a month, suffocating in the stench of urine and feces from the countless animals that had proceeded them. Mattresses were simply bags stuffed with straw. Their latrines were rough boards rigged over a ditch without screening. There was no privacy.

“We were fed in the poultry section at rough tables with tin plates,” Kitigawa recalled, “and our hair, skin and clothes were soon permeated with the stench of urine and feces. We were surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by RCMP.”

Boys over the age of 12 were later separated from women and girls and held in a nearby building with all other men, whether or not they had relatives or siblings in the group. Even her grandparents were separated.

“Even today I cannot go near the barns, the memory of having to live there is still too painful . . . I lived there for a month.”

Kitigawa was speaking in support of Judy Hanazawa, who spoke of the Japanese community’s conviction that much more must be done in the renewed Hastings Park to keep alive the memory of what must have been the park’s darkest hours.

http://www.geoffmeggs.ca/2010/12/08/...darkest-hours/

[twoNeurons]

It's too bad the Coaster probably can't be moved inexpensively to Surrey (Metro Vancouver).

Disneyland is not in LA, it's in Orange County.

If Playland moved to a large area in Surrey, say by Scott Road, it could become a GREAT amusement park. Its attendance would likely RISE, not decrease.

Create a great park in Surrey instead of preserving a mediocre one in Vancouver proper.

[Millennium2002]

I think you'll have to tell that to an interested private company, as PNE (including Playland) is owned by the City of Vancouver and they'll probably want to retain that asset.

I recently asked them via email about both the entrance issue and about the lack of a proper fair-time bus loop. The reply is that they'll iron out the details later... and they're thinking of doing a wayfinding and signage program at the park (also to be decided later).

Originally Posted by City of Vancouver (email)

The Hastings Park/PNE Master Plan is recommending to improve the bus loop outside the Pacific Coliseum (details to be determined later in the planning process) to service the Fair and other year round events. At that time, we will definitely be looking into issues like raised platforms.

The reason the Master Plan proposes to move the main entrance to Playland to the centre of the park is to retain/convert the edges of Hastings Park as park use. It's a balance between park use and commercial uses on the site. The Master Plan will retain the entrance to Playland off of Hastings Street (entry node as shown in the diagram below), although as you have noted the main gate to Playland will be within the park. Next year, one of the Master Plan's first implementation items will be a signage plan - this will address identification of all the Park's uses (including Playland), wayfinding, and traffic flow.

In a way this project sounds similar to the park in Seattle containing Key Arena and the Space Needle, except with a really large amusement park attached.

[whatnext]

Ms. Kitigawa has a point. There's the Japanese-Canadian National Museum in Burnaby, but its not really a memorial. And yet we have, what, 4 Air India memorials now across the country?

Something in time for the 70th anniversary of the internment in 2012 would be fitting.

It would be interesting to know where Playland/The PNE's customers largely come from. Maybe a move south of the Fraser would make sense.

[Smooth]

The vote was last night, wasn't it? Anyone know what happened?

[GeeCee]

The vote is on Dec 14, there was a public consultation meeting a few days ago though..

[GeeCee]

It's tonight!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-col...park-plan.html